Forget Her
by swaggedoutkidd
Summary: Gale expected he would lose Katniss to Peeta. But no one foresaw Annie Cresta's betrayal of her husband. In their heartbroken state, Gale and Finnick grow close to each other. But can they find a way to forget the women who hurt them? Set at the end of Mockingjay. (Rated T for now, but may have to become M for graphic content).
1. Chapter 1: Annie Cresta

**Author's Note: So it's been about an entire summer since I read a friend's copy of ****_Mockingjay_****, and I wanted to write this story so badly. I think I may have some canon related details incorrect. Please review if the details are bad and if you like it, definitely review. There will be slash and this story may have to be rated M. **

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Annie Cresta hovered over the slumbering body of her husband. Her dark eyes studied the rise and fall of his bare, sun-kissed chest, which slowed with each passing minute. Finnick Odair was sprawled across the lone cot in their District 13 quarters. An empty drinking mug dangled from his left hand. Finnick's full, alluring lips glistened with the last drops of the wine he had consumed when Annie brought out a bottle from their wedding presents.

_'He looks so beautiful and peaceful.' _Annie clasped her hands to her mouth and her eyes darted around the room in search of accusatory cameras. _'I can't believe I just plied him with wine. But I can't bear to lose him again, even for a moment.'_

She lowered her face to his. The sweet smell of wine and the burning scent of something stronger, more potent, more dangerous, wafted into Annie's nostrils. "And now, I won't have to lose you at all, Finnick. You and I can spend forever together."

Annie walked her long, nimble fingers up his bare, sinewy arm. The stunning blond neither moved nor protested at his redhead wife's touch. "I suppose this is how I look when I take my dreamless drugs. Enjoy your good night's sleep, Finnick."

Annie kissed Finnick's forehead, stood upright, and quickly dressed in her husband's fighting gear.

It was the last days of the Revolution of the Districts. After 75 years of Hunger Games, the people of Panem had found a hero behind whom to rally: Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, the Mockingjay. She had defied the Capitol's edict that, of 24 children culled from the Twelve Districts of Panem each year, only one would survive. She had refused to conform to the rules within District Twelve or in the long-dreaded Third Quarter Quell.

Katniss had given hope to all of Panem. She had reunited Annie and Finnick.

_'Finnick has lost so much because of the Capitol. At least we'll be together now, if I die in battle. That was a lot of dreamless drugs I gave him.'_ Annie skipped merrily to the Command Center, where she and the rest of the Mockingjay's Capitol invasion team were meeting to be debriefed. Finnick was supposed to be there. Annie had made sure he would not be.

People thought she was crazy. Finnick understood though: No one won the Hunger Games and stayed completely sane. They were all broken little dolls.

Annie reminisced about her own broken doll from her childhood. Her mother had thrown away the expensive plaything. Then the Capitol had thrown her mother away. They said she was being bad.

She missed her mother, and her doll, and Finnick too. He was asleep.

Annie suddenly found herself face-to-face with Katniss and Gale. Behind them, people were filing out the command center. "Annie? Did you hear me Annie?" Katniss asked.

"No," she said honestly, "did I miss something?"

Katniss exchanged a concerned look with Gale. Annie saw a lot of those lately. She liked the brunette huntress they called the Mockingjay because she had a pretty name, but Katniss was unbearably self-absorbed at times. Annie considered telling her so right then. It just seemed inappropriate.

Gale, the tall brunet boy whom Annie knew Katniss ignored, was an insult to her with his presence. Girls in District 13 thought Gale was nearly as or more attractive than Finnick. But Finnick was better-looking and easier to talk to.

At the moment, Finnick was just asleep.

"No, Annie, you were at the meeting," Katniss said slowly in a high-pitched voice.

Annie hated when people talked to her that way. Most people did. Finnick was the only one who didn't. He was the only one who understood. But he was asleep, so Annie had to deal with stupid people. "I'm not addled, and I'm not a child," she warned Katniss.

"No one said you were," Katniss lied blatantly. "I just….thought you remembered the meeting."

"Where's Finnick?" Gale demanded boldly.

"He's sleeping."

Gale stepped closer to her with a quizzical glare in his gray eyes. "He should have been awake for this meeting. I thought he'd want to be on the front lines. Why didn't you wake him up?"

Annie burst into tears. Gale intimidated her. She did not like him or Katniss, only Finnick. "He's asleep, he's asleep, please don't hurt me!" Annie protectively folded her arms around herself until she felt a pair of consoling arms around her and heard Katniss' gentle shushing.

"It's alright, Annie. All is well. Gale didn't mean to yell at you. Did you, Gale?"

"Yeah, sure, I didn't mean to yell at you." Gale's skeptical gaze did not diminish or shift from Annie, but she smiled at his promising words anyway. He was a bit tall and broad-shouldered for her tastes, but Gale didn't seem uncompromising. If Katniss would let him, he could be her champion the same way he was Annie's champion.

"Did I miss a party?" Annie asked with a naïve smile.

"What?" Gale asked.

Katniss was more sympathetic, but not by much. "Do you mean the meeting?" Annie nodded. "That wasn't a party, Annie. That was a briefing."

"Who was briefed?"

Katniss pursed her lips. Annie thought she looked like a beast when she did that, but Annie knew it was still Katniss. So she didn't recoil from the Katniss-beast. Gale placed a hand on her shoulder. Annie didn't recoil from him either. "We're about to storm the Capitol and capture…"

"Kill," Katniss corrected.

"We're about to _kill_ President Snow."

"I would like to be part of that, very much! Can I help kill the President?" Annie said brightly. She had found her Idea and wanted to hold onto it, watch it grow up in her hands. "He was not very nice to Finnick."

"Yes, Annie," Katniss said, less patiently. "You are part of the team. We are departing now." Annie decided she didn't like Katniss very much again, even if they were going to kill President Snow together.

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They battled their way through the Capitol. Annie, with her skewed perception of things, understood how systematically the killing snares would be placed. She didn't tell anyone else that the tar awaited them, or that the killing light was there because Annie didn't possess that kind of perception. But Annie understood the crafty mind that developed the layout of the killing traps. It was the mind of someone tortured by the Games.

Of course, the mutations were a surprise even to Annie. But she didn't like tunnels. Annie didn't like the darkness, the dampness, and the cold of the tunnels. They reminded her of the cave, where she had hid and sung the song that boy from District 4 had sung. Annie couldn't remember his name, but she remembered his song. Since she was underneath the earth again, Annie hummed his song.

"Annie, would you please be quiet?" asked one of the equipment-carrying twins. It seemed he had asked that question before.

She continued to hum. Annie couldn't remember his name either.

"Annie, we're kind of on edge right now. I think we'd all appreciate it if you would shut up!" Gale roared.

She flinched but continued to hum. "Gale, don't yell at her. She's just scared," Katniss said somewhere ahead of her.

"Well she's not the only one."

"That's not fair."

"The truth isn't fair, Catnip."

From the sounds Annie could detect in the tunnels, the muttations were approaching stealthily. They were as scary as the Tributes who had stalked outside the cave, after they killed the boy. He had sung the song that Annie hummed. Singing had brought the cleansing flood. Annie lived. The boy had died.

If they were lucky, she could hum another into existence.

The muttations behind them howled. It was too late.

"Run!" screamed one of the twins.

Equipment was left behind. Weapons and skills were forgotten. There was only the heated breath of the muttations, the pounding sound of their feet upon the concrete. One of the twins succumbed almost immediately.

Annie didn't know where they were going. She wanted to be at Finnick's side at that moment, in their bed, because that was safer and quieter than running through the tunnels and being too out of breath to hum. If she had hummed, she would have been safe. Another twin became muttation fodder.

Finnick was safe, waiting for her. Soon she would rest in his arms.

They were climbing the ladder, just the three of them. Annie looked up at Katniss and Gale struggling to climb the ladder. The muttations weren't far behind them, but neither Katniss nor Gale could open the grate. . In the split second that she looked up, Annie finally saw and understood. Katniss had light all around her and everyone gave Katniss the worshipful reverence she deserved.

How had Annie missed it all for so long?

"Pretty mockingjay," Annie said and released the ladder. The waiting muttations carried her to join Finnick in their mighty jaws.

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2: Gale Hawthorne

**Author's Note: Originally I wrote Chapter 2 from a third-person limited perspective of Finnick two days after Annie's death. I started this chapter to resume from that one, but it took on a life of its own. This chapter makes more sense here, and I think it allows an easier segue into Chapters 3 and 4. I hope you enjoy it and the modified third chapter. I've already started work on Chapter 4 and should have it posted soon. Thanks for all the reviews and followings.**

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"Keep quiet. Watch carefully. And wait. That's your first hunting lesson," Etick Hawthorne had said to his son, Gale.

"Can we move onto the second now? I want to catch something!"

Etick laughed. Gale, his eldest son, was barely seven years old and filled with a boundless energy that eluded the often-weary coal miner. With that energy, there was dangerous lack of patience, which Etick could only attribute to his wife. "Keep quiet."

Etick pointed with one heavily callused index finger at the bird in the tree a few yards away. It was a normal partridge with nothing special about it, not even the color of its feathers. Gale listened carefully for its melody, but the bird wasn't singing. It was preening its feathers with unpredictable jerks of its plumed head, but it made a perfect target, as long as it stayed still.

"Watch carefully." Gale was so preoccupied with being quiet that he didn't even notice his father had taken out a bow and arrow. It was likely one crafted by Mr. Everdeen, the apothecary woman's husband, and bought from him on trade. Etick strung the bow and notched the arrow while keeping the partridge in his line of sight.

"And wait." The partridge ruffled its wings twice then took flight. Gale's heart sank as it went airborne. Surely they had lost their quarry for the day, which proved for the seven-year-old the futility of waiting.

It was airborne only a moment before Etick's arrow plunged into its chest and brought it plummeting to the damp, soft earth.

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Gale had watched Katniss diligently since she was twelve. He knew her shifts of mood, her gradual method of reaching a definitive conclusion, and her unusually precise first impressions of a person. She was weak when it came to forgiveness, but her strengths were her loyalty and resilience, even if that loyalty meant hurting other people she cared about. Gale alone knew that Katniss slept as though sleep was a burden. She was alert even when unconscious and aware of possible danger without solicitation.

So he realized, long before she verbalized it, that she was in love with Peeta Mallark, as much as Gale was in love with Katniss.

On the morning that their team invaded the Capitol, their feelings were the least of his worries. Peeta was part of their team and still mentally unstable, which concerned Gale. Finnick wasn't there. And Annie Cresta—she had retained her maiden name—was behaving very strangely. Her eccentric patterns of behavior were difficult for even Gale to read. What qualifies as stranger behavior for a certifiably crazy woman?

"Annie, please stop humming," Katniss asked gently but irritably. Gale loved that she was trying so hard to be patient. With both Annie and Peeta behaving like lunatics and in her role as the leader of the team, Katniss' burden was only made less bearable. The Katniss he'd known in District Twelve would have sniped at Annie in such a tense situation. Something about her had changed in the Arena.

The red-haired victor immediately fell silent, even with Katniss' gentle words. Silence in the tunnels was actually worse than Gale had imagined. When he hunted in the forest, there was no real silence and no real stillness. Life could not be quieted. In the tunnels, there was the eeriness of their footsteps echoing from the walls and the hollow desperation of each breath they took. The only things they needed to see were their sweeping flashlights.

"I liked it when Annie hummed better than now," Leeg 1 whispered. "Now it's just too quiet."

"Annie's humming covered the noises we _need _to hear," Gale snapped. It was unfair for Leeg 1—or anyone else—to question Katniss' request. Pollux grunted his agreement, and Homes merely nodded. But it was some sort of accord.

As if the tunnel wanted to agree with Gale, the sound of rapid, plural skittering creatures echoed off the walls. "What is that?" Leeg 1 demanded. Her voice was heightened with panic and her innocent blue eyes widened with anxiety.

"Muttations," Homes grunted. The entire group, except for Annie, stopped. She continued to walk down the tunnel without heeding anyone else. Even though Gale noticed it, he didn't say anything. The approaching muttations were far more urgent and important. _'She can walk off the face of the earth for all I care.'_

Katniss knocked an arrow. Gale raised his gun. Peeta, he noticed, made no motion toward either his gun or to flee. "We should run," the blond boy warned.

"No, we should stand our ground here," Leeg 1 countered.

Gale wasn't sure if he wanted to run or to stay. The decision was taken from his hands when the tunnel filled with the hisses of the approaching muttations. Even though he hadn't yet seen them, Gale heard their squirming bodies and the name that was discernible from their hisses: "Katniss."

He wasn't sure when his feet began to run, but Gale was shortly out of breath. So were Annie, Peeta, and Leeg 1. Pollux and Homes, the trained fighters, were panting for air but they had aimed their guns. Jackson was yelling and firing, as though he had his own unique modification that allowed him to shoot, run, and yell all at once. "There's no escape, no escape, no escape!" Peeta yelled as he ran.

_'The dough boy is panicked when you need him to be strong. Is this really who you love, Catnip?'_

As if she could hear Gale's thoughts, Katniss stopped and grabbed Peeta's shoulders at the next turn. "Pull it together, Peeta! This is real. _I'm _real. And there's always an escape. We'll find it and we'll be safe." In a sudden move that ran through Gale's heart like folded steel, Katniss pressed her lips to Peeta's. "We _will_ escape," she breathed against his lips.

"I'd hate to interrupt the romance," Jackson growled, "but we've got a swarm of fast-moving muttations approaching!"

Leeg 1 and Jackson stood their ground with weapons raised. "Go! The Mockingjay must live!" Jackson ordered.

"Make Snow pay for what he did to my sister, to our people," Leeg 1 added. Despite the sweat and dirt smeared across her face and the fearful certainty of death in her eyes, Leeg 1 was still amazingly beautiful in Gale's eyes.

Katniss and Gale gave affirmative nods and led the way through the remainder of the sewers. Weapons discharges; the panting from Annie's and Peeta's exhausted lungs, and the interminable hiss of "Katniss…Katniss" assailed Gale's ears. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest. Gale's lone thought was the loss of Katniss' life. But when Peeta stumbled, Katniss was there to support him. When Peeta cried in fear, she mollified him as best as she could. Gale received no such succor from Katniss.

At the bottom of the ladder that led to the lone exit, Gale picked up Katniss and forced her to climb the ladder. With one arm, he blocked Peeta form following her. He could not allow the unstable blond to risk harm to her by climbing first and shutting her out, or to wound her when she reached the top of the ladder.

Gale was followed by Peeta and Annie. Before Homes could reach the ladder, the muttations approached. They were the length of Gale's forearm with yellow-green scales and glowing milk-white eyes that burned into Gale's mind as they swarmed over the walls in competition for space. Each one gnashed white needle-like incisors. When they leaped from the walls and attacked Homes en masse. He vanished from sight covered head to toe in the vile creatures. Gale turned his head away while Homes' screams were drowned under their persistent hiss.

"Pretty mockingjay," Annie whispered. Only a dozen or so meters above the hoard of muttations, she released her grip and fell gracefully into the tunnel.

Gale heard Katniss gasp. When he glanced at her, fire had ignited her eyes, and her jaw was set in aggression. That was all the warning Gale had before Katniss muttered "nightlock" three times and flung the instrument into the tunnel. A fiery explosion consumed Annie's fallen body, the lizard muttations, and jarred every cell in Gale's body. He gritted his teeth against the shock and felt one of them chip. Gale gritted his teeth against the pain and stoutly urged his body to continue the climb to the street level.

To his relief, Katniss was there. She knelt on the polished street surface over the entrance to the sewers and waited patiently for Gale's smoke-caked body to emerge fully. When Gale embraced her with gratitude and love, Katniss returned the hug. His heart beat passionately against hers, for in that moment, she belonged to him and not to Peeta. Gale didn't want to permit the moment of weakness he felt with Katniss' body insinuated against his, but he still inhaled deeply of her hair and brushed his lips against her forehead.

"You're ok. You're safe," he whispered. _'And you're with me. That's all that matters right now.' _

Katniss pulled away from Gale. "Peeta is still in the tunnel. I have to make sure he's ok."

As if the sewers were dedicated to his cause, a fiery plume erupted from the sewer opening. Peeta emerged before Katniss stopped running, coughing and gasping for air. Katniss helped Peeta to his feet. _'Here I am, prepared to confess to her how much I love her, and Katniss chooses to comfort Peeta with the hug and the kiss I would have died to have from her.'_


	3. Chapter 3: Finnick Odair

**Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in this update. My home internet connection is wonky, and I honestly don't believe this was the best plot I could have devised. This chapter will contain references to drug use and slash elements. Please review and let me know what you think. I don't want to abandon this story, but I may have to because it's just not drawing attention.**

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**Chapter 2: Finnick Odair **

**Two Days Later…**

After several years of drinking, inhaling, rubbing on, and dripping on some of the Capitol's most potent drugs, Finnick Odair thought he was capable of handling any drug. He had downed a handful of blue pills that tasted of peppermint while one of his "clients" died from just her first one. Finnick had taken the acid green eyedrops at an orgiastic party that had sent one girl into seizures and paralyzed two other boys, and he was still walking after that purple brew from District 2 had caused an overweight "client" to die from heart failure.

Surprisingly, it was his wife who caught Finnick off guard. He had taken a celebratory swig of the wine Annie brought to their quarters that night. Annie had said she had something important to tell him, and Finnick was too ecstatic at the news to be prudent. He was going to be a father.

After only the third glass, he was too dizzy to sit upright without Annie's help. Within ten seconds of the fifth glass, he was unconscious. It was the best sleep of his life, even with the hallucinations.

Finnick awoke in a puddle of his own urine and watery feces. While he was unconscious and immobilized, Finnick's body was clearly not. _'Annie, when I find you, I will kill you for making me dream about romping with muttations and having skin made of ice. I did look stunning though.' _ The injustice of waking in his own waste was enough to justify his wife's murder.

Someone was knocking impatiently at the door. Finnick rolled over and his body flumped to the rock hard floor of his quarters. He ignored the pain in his arms and elbows, which had absorbed most of the impact, and began to crawl toward the door. Annie's chemical concoction still controlled the blond victor because his body was incapable of either speech or standing.

The impatient knocking stopped and became erratic battering of the door. Not that Finnick was able to rush to answer. Whatever drug Annie had slipped into his wine made his muscles feel as if they were still asleep, while his mind was not. Finnick had never been this immobilized before, even the first time he was ever drugged. That wasn't a pleasant memory.

Finally the door before him opened. Finnick exerted the effort to turn his sea green eyes upon a pair of men's brown leather hunting boots, but he could not crane his neck higher to examine the face. "Finnick! What happened to you?"

Finnick grunted, and the owner of the boots knelt down. It was Gale, with his shaggy brown hair, kind soft yet masculine face, and inquisitive blue eyes. There was a bandage around his shoulder. _'Well, isn't this great? I have a hero.'_

"Wait right here. I'll get some help, seeing as I can't lift you at the moment." Gale dashed out the room. Finnick could hear his boots pounding the hallway.

_'I don't suppose I'm going anywhere, so I'll just wait right here.'_

Eight hours later, the drugs had finally processed through Finnick's system. He had full control of his muscles; he could talk; and he could eat. Upon hearing of his recovery, President Coin sent a platter of baked fish to him in the infirmary. It wasn't his favorite type of fish (flounder) and the fried potato wedges that accompanied it were slightly too crispy, but Finnick finished his entire meal. The one thing that unsettled him was Gale's constant presence while a machine flushed the drugs from his system.

"So," Finnick finally said, while wiping his hands clean of the greasy fish, "why _are_ you stalking me like an eagle stalks a fish through rapids?"

"I'm not stalking you," Gale replied sullenly. He had barely touched his own food.

"You came from my quarters with me, and you've been at my bedside for hours. You haven't even pissed. How strong is your bladder?"

"Strong enough."

Finnick opted to change the subject. He would uncover Gale's motives in time. "Morphling cocktail, huh? It figures my wife would be the one to handicap me. Do you have any idea where she is right now?"

"You don't want to know."

Finnick's bold, brash face dissolved into pale trepidation. Annie had already experienced a sample of the worst that the Capitol could offer her, but she had yet to experience the very worst. He wanted her spared of that fate, but Annie had taken his place in the battle for the Capitol. Until the uniform was removed, they would have no idea she was female.

He mentally shook himself free of that image. "Where is Annie?"

"She's dead, Finnick."

_'Only Gale could have delivered the news so honestly, exactly the way that I needed to hear it. Well, Katniss could have as well. What is it that the people of District 12 aren't sweet, endearing, and loving? What does it say about me that I __**want**__ someone cold to deliver such tragic news?' _

Finnick felt hollowness in his stomach, despite the food he had eaten. His chest ached, and there was wetness on his face. Finnick couldn't recall his last conversation with Annie in every detail. Before he passed out, had he told her "I love you?" He couldn't remember if she had said anything back, or if they had said "I love you" the last time he had mounted her and filled her with his seed. Worse still, he couldn't remember if she said it back.

Grief physically overwhelmed Finnick until he couldn't sit upright another moment. He began to topple forward in a paroxysm of grief but a pair of strong, brawny arms wrapped around his shoulders and set him upright. Gale was always there to help, always there to save him, always there when Finnick needed him. Maybe it was the depth of another loss, but Finnick felt vulnerable in Gale's arms.

After a few moments, Gale finally let go of Finnick. The brunet was misty-eyed but Gale's composure was a lot stronger. And Finnick needed someone else's strength at that moment.

He was strong for his family when Finnick competed for the Games.

Finnick was strong for Annie during the rebellion.

And he had tried to be strong for himself during his years of being a trophy. People who "borrowed" him broke his heart and soul every night at every function, and in every one of their houses.

On a spur of the moment impulse, consumed with grief and guilt and need, Finnick leaned forward and passionately kissed Gale.


End file.
